Rotary engine.



No. 729,554.y EATENTED JUNE 2, 1903.

- W.- P. DIGEY.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 16; 1903.

No MODEL. s SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATB'NTED JUNE 2, 1903,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

'W. l. DIGBY.

` ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIUATION FILED rm, 1e. 1903.

I0 IODEI..

UNITED STATES atented June 2, 1903;.,

l PATENT OEEICE.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 729,554, dated J une 2, 1903.

Application filed February 16, 1903. Serial No. 143,676. (No model.)

T0 a/ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM POLLARD DIGBY, engineer, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Trafalgar Buildings, Charing Cross, London, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engiues, of which the followin gis aspecilication.

This invention relates to rotary engines ,of the annular-chamber type in which the abutment is formed by a diaphragm which rotates in a plane at right angles to that in which the piston moves and which is suitably recessed to allow 0f the passage of the piston. According to this invention I drive the spindle of the diaphragm by a connecting-rod or connecting-rods from an auxiliary shaftat right angles to the main shaft. This auxiliary shaft is preferably rotated by a triangular.

connecting-rod operatedV by links from a pair of eccentrics or cranks on the main shaft. I also actuate the admission-valve from the diaphragm-spindle. Preferably I arrange two engines, one high and the other low pressure, on the same shaft, the high pressure exhausting into the low, and drive bothr diaphragm-- spindles from the one auxiliary shaft. In the drawings annexed I have shown a combined high and low cylinder engine thus arranged.A

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevationof a pair of engines, one high and the other low pressure. Fig. 2 is a plan; and Fig. 3 a Vertical section on the line 3 3, Fig. 2. l

a is the high and b the low pressure engine. c is the main shaft, to which the disks carrying the pistons X of these lengines are fixed.

d is the Yrevolving diaphragm-abutment of the high-pressure engine, and e the spindle by which it is carried.

fis the revolving abutment of the low-pressure engine, and g the spindle by which it is carried. l

d andfx` (shown in dotted lines inFigQl) are the" openings in" th'e two diaphragms d and f.

h is the auxiliary shaft at right angles to the main shaft c and driven at the same speed, preferably, as shown, by two eccentrics i on the main shaft, one slightly in advance of the other, giving an endwise to-and-'fro motion V.to two slides j, which by short links lo are connectedto the angles at the ends of one side of a triangular connecting-rod Z, while the center of this side is jointed to a swinging link m, so that the triangle is by the eccentric moved up and down as well as rocked v the, low-pressure cylinder from the exhaustpipe q, leading from the high-pressure cylinder.

y By giving motion to the abutment-spindles, asabove described, by cranks and connecting-rods from an auxiliary shaft turning in bearings fixed to the bed-plate and at right angles to the main shaft a very compact and silent engine is obtained, working with great steadiness and but little friction.

, The general operation of my engine is similar to that of other engines of this class. As the piston comes up to the abutment the opening in the abutment comes in front of the piston, the piston passes through the opening, and when the piston has passed the continued revolution of the disk abutment brings a solid portion of the disk into position to form a partition across the'annular cylinder in which the piston travels. Steam is then admitted between the piston and this parti.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular cylinder, a diaphragm-abutment at right angles to and crossing the lower portion of the cylinder, a shaft by which the abutment is carried, a main shaft, a disk thereon, a piston in the annular cylinder and secured to the disk, an auxiliary shaft at right angles to and driven from the main shaft at the same speed, means for transmitting a revolving motion from the auxiliary shaft to the abutment-shaft, a valve for admitting iiuid under pressure to the cylinder, and a crank or eccentric on the abutment-shaft giving a to-andfro motion to the valve.

3. In a rotary engine, the combination of an annular cylinder, a diaphragm-abutment at right angles to and crossing the cylinder, a piston in the annular cylinder fast on the circumference of a disk fixed on a central main shaft, an auxiliary shaft at right angles to it, a pair of cranks or eccentrics on the main shaft one set slightly in advance of the other, a pair of slides receiving an endwise to-and-fro motion from these cranks or eccentrics, a triangular connecting-rod, links connecting the two slides to the two ends of one side of this triangle, a rocking link coupled at one end to the center of the side, a crank on the auxiliary shaft to which the opposite angle of the triangle is coupled, and means for transmitting a revolving motion from the auxiliary shaft to a shaft which carries the diaphragm-abutment.

4. In a rotary compound engine, the combination of a bed-plate, an annular cylinder at each of the ends of the bed-plate, one high pressure, the other low, a diaphragm-abutment for each cylinder, a main shaft which extends from one cylinder to the other, disks secured thereto, pistons attached to the disks and working in the cylinders, an exhaust-pipe leading from the high-pressure cylinder to the inlet of the lowpressure cylinder, an auxiliary shaft at right angles to and driven from the main shaft at the same speed, and means for transmitting a revolving motion from the auxiliary shaft to the shafts which carry the two diaphragm-abutments.

5. In a rotary compound engine, the cornbination of a bed-plate, an annular cylinder at each end of thc bed-plate one high pressure the other low, a diaphragm-abutment for each cylinder, the pistons of the cylinders carried by disks fast on the circumference of one main shaft which extends from one to the other, an exhaust-pipe leading from the high-pressu re cylinder to the inlet of the lowpressure cylinder, an auxiliary shaft at right angles tothe main shaft, a pair of cranks or eccentrics on the main shaft one set slightly in advance of the other, a pair of slides receiving an endwise to-andfro motion from these cranks or eccentrics, a triangular connecting-rod, links connecting the two slides to the two ends of one side of this triangle, a rocking link coupled at one end to the center of this side, a crank on the auxiliary shaft to which the opposite angle of the triangle is coupled, and means for transmitting a revolving motion from the auxiliary shaft to shafts which carry the two diaphragm-abutments.

WILLIAM POLLARD DIGBY.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR CARPMAEL, Jr., JOHN HENDERSON WHITEHEAD. 

